Thursday, May 5, 2011

Guest Author Interview: Devon Ashley + Giveaway!

Devon: It's hard to say. I've always loved to write, as far back as elemetary school. When I was inducted into the National Honor Society in HS I chose my seventh grade English teacher to invite. With her she brought a stack of papers I had written and told me she still used my work as her examples in class. I looked them over and said, "OMG, why??!! These are horrible!" She laughed and said, "Not for a seventh grader."

Writing has always been a stress reliever for me. For fun, I started writing a screenplay back in 1998. I entered it in a few competitions and it did surprisingly well. It never won, but always placed well in competition. One of my awards included a one-on-one with a judge, who happened to love the world I created. She told me there wasn't really a market for it in the screenwriting world at that moment but thought it would make a great fan fiction novel. A few years later I took her advice and started writing. I'm not sure I intended to actually sell it in the beginning. It was just something I did on the side to escape the world of reality for an hour or two. But in the end, I really loved the characters and world that I had created and really wanted to share it. So here I am. Now I'm totally psyched to finish the other 4 books in the series.

EJ: What brought you to the paranormal genre?

Devon: I know this sounds familiar, but I dreamed my world. But in my defense, I had this dream several years before another author dreamed up hers (and I've got the copyright to prove it! lol). I am willing to admit that I most likely watched an episode of Buffy before I went to bed and felt inspired. But I've always enjoyed the paranormal/fantasy world. Anne Rice's Interview With The Vampire was probably my first exposure to that world. I love the world of supernatural beings and have been latched on ever since!

EJ: If you could be any paranormal or have any one supernatural talent, what would it be? Why?

Devon: I've gotta say, teleportation would be pretty sweet. Never having to sit on another transatlantic flight for 12 hours? Wanna get away for the day and hit the beach in Hawaii? Scuba diving in Palau? Stroll down Champs Elysees? You could be there with the snap of your finger.

EJ: Tell us why readers will love your new release?

Devon: I've spent the better part of ten years defining this world, and only a small part of it is shown in the first book. What will you see in this new world?

-a new type of vampire called pure vampires: it's a small clan of about 20 vampires that Abby and Noel are a part of. They descend from the original vampires, before the line started to mutate. They're not as vulnerable as the mutated vampires and require a different way to die.
-a reason for why vampirism spreads so easily through their blood. I have a Masters of Science degree in Microbiology and have worked in the field for ten years, so I was able to concoct a plausible reason for this. (granted, it's still fiction, but believable!)
-a little paranormal romance. Abby and Noel have been married for 200 hundred years but there's still a little fire in the oven. But for true romance lovers, the third book in the Immortal Archives will explore a blossoming romance between two paranormals that will really get your heart beating.
-I know I'm the writer and I love my story, but I think readers will enjoy the story too. And although my main characters are immortal,none of them are safe from me. My character Madam Melina sums it up best when she says, "Even immortals don't get to live forever."

EJ: Who would I cast for the leading roles?

Devon: For Abby, I had originally thought a good dark horse would by Dallas Bryce Howard but now that she's squeezed her way into the Twilight Saga, I would really want someone else. Amy Adams has the right look but she would REALLY have to step over to the dark side to pull it off. Abby is quite sarcastic and rarely has a reason to smile. As for Noel, I've always seen Skeet Ulrich, but with a look more similar to his Scream days. Emily I have yet to cast in my mind. She's always been an enigma to me. She's going to play a huge role in the series and I think she's the character most girls will see themselves as, so I really want the reader to come up with their own picture of her. Should this story ever make it to Hollywood, they'll have to surprise me.

Ordained (The Immortal Archives, #1) by Devon Ashley.

Normally, the school creates the hunters…not the monsters.

Abby Sorrensten likes to play rough. Ripping the horns off the foreheads of demons, manipulating lightning and setting things on fire with the flick of your wrist can give you a serious rush. So she probably wasn’t the best choice for the Order’s experimental training program. Thirteen years of isolation, lack of affection and a bruised and broken body from horrendous training sessions creates more than just an exceptional fighter. It creates an evil within - an evil responsible for several deaths the night she left.

Two hundred years later Abby resurfaces as the very thing the Order trained her to kill: a vampire. A mythical demon has set his sights on the school and only the ordained hunter has the powers to face it. Unbeknownst to the Order, Abby’s their precious ordained one and their only chance for survival. As much as she would love to leave them hanging, she’s not willing to risk the life of Emily, a fellow friend and hunter also fed up with the organization. But for Abby, locking herself away in a fortress with angry descendents of those she killed causes suspicions and tensions to run high. Abby must learn the demon’s weaknesses for battle before the Order learns hers.

To enter, please leave a comment on this post including your email address (so we may contact you if you win). You do not have to be a follower to enter (though I always appreciate a follow!). This giveaway is for US mailing addresses only. Giveaway ends May 20th midnight EST.